Agile Multi-parallel Micro Manufacturing Using a Grid of Equiplets
Abstract
Unlike manufacturing technology for semiconductors
and printed circuit boards, the market for traditional micro assembly
lacks a clear public roadmap. More agile manufacturing strategies are
needed in an environment in which dealing with change becomes a rule
instead of an exception. In this paper, an attempt is made to bring
production with universal micro assembly cells to the next level. This
is realised by placing a larger number of cells, called Equiplets, in a
"Grid". Equiplets are compact and low-cost manufacturing platforms that
can be reconfigured to a broad number of applications. Benchmarking
Equiplet production has shown reduced time to market and a smooth
transition from R&D to Manufacturing. When higher production volumes
are needed, more systems can be placed in parallel to meet the
manufacturing demand. Costs of product design changes in the later stage
of industrialisation have been reduced due to the modular production in
grids, which allows the final design freeze to be postponed as late as
possible. The need for invested capital is also pushed backwards
accordingly.
Origin | Files produced by the author(s) |
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